GOOL: A Generic Object-Oriented Language (extended version)

TL;DR

GOOL is a versatile embedded DSL in Haskell that captures core object-oriented programming concepts, enabling the generation of clear, idiomatic code across multiple languages like Python, Java, C#, and C++.

Contribution

It introduces GOOL, a novel generic object-oriented language that effectively models common programming idioms and patterns for multi-language code generation.

Findings

GOOL can generate human-readable code in multiple languages.

It successfully expresses complex design patterns like Observer, State, and Strategy.

GOOL demonstrates the feasibility of a unified language for diverse object-oriented programming tasks.

Abstract

We present GOOL, a Generic Object-Oriented Language. It demonstrates that a language, with the right abstractions, can capture the essence of object-oriented programs. We show how GOOL programs can be used to generate human-readable, documented and idiomatic source code in multiple languages. Moreover, in GOOL, it is possible to express common programming idioms and patterns, from simple library-level functions, to simple tasks (command-line arguments, list processing, printing), to more complex patterns, such as methods with a mixture of input, output and in-out parameters, and finally Design Patterns (such as Observer, State and Strategy). GOOL is an embedded DSL in Haskell that can generate code in Python, Java, C# and C++.